Isn't a realistic scenario that of an hour builder, running a daily 10am flight to X, with the passengers picking up a large portion of the cost? I can see why the CAA wants to prevent that kind of thing.
Indeed but if he advertises the same regular flight in the said wooden hut, it is 100% legal
seems to be that public transport pilots should be trained to ahigher standard. The general public is allowed to cost share if the flight is purely for fun
I don't disagree but that is just one interpretation.
You could debate what expectation of extra safety a paying passenger has in a beaten up spamcan (even one on an AOC; most AOC planes seem to be beaten up wreckage... look at the Islanders and Trilanders) and that's before I come back to the whole thing being 100% legit if the flight is advertised in the said wooden hut and the prospective passenger is a member of some "club" (for which no fee needs to be charged anyway).
It doesn't make any sense to me - other than just FUD to keep a lid on illegal charter while allowing cost sharing in physical schools/clubs, pre-internet.
As regards getting an AOC, anybody with £ 5 figures can get an A to B AOC, by throwing some money at a consultant who knows how to set it up. Same with ISO9000, etc. I have seen some of the worst dishonest crooked cowboys get AOCs, and all manufacturers who make absolute crap (with apologies to Mr Ratner) were the first to get ISO9000.